We Can’t Get No Satisfaction

According to polling from Gallup, Americans are as happy as they’ve almost ever been. Yet ...

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According to polling from Gallup, Americans are as happy as they’ve almost ever been. Yet their feelings toward the country as a whole are near an all-time low. Why is that? Sarah, Steve, David, and Declan discuss that and more. Plus, in San Francisco, the left seemed to do some self-correcting after a successful recall of a number of school board members. And finally, as Steve promised members on this week’s Dispatch Live, a continued conversation about Rep. Liz Cheney.

Show Notes:

–Gallup satisfaction numbers

–San Francisco recall election results

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  1. CandS

    How unfortunate that the term "progressive" is being used with the term "Democrat" to tie it all up together into a derogatory definition of a political entity. What you are really talking about are "Wingnut Democrats". Or, It would be better to call them "Far Left Democrats" instead, and spare the term "progressive" for its more positive aspects.

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    CoLaura

    I am trying to consider the asymmetry between the right and the left in terms of corrective politics. I think of the SF SB race as a great example of corrective politics and as Sarah et al noted, it was the left policing the left. I am scratching my head to think of an example of this on the right? Are there places where the right is "punishing" its politicians in a similar way for being to out of line with the mainstream? This is not a "whataboutism" question, but I am truly looking for examples. The only thing I can think of is Roy Moore in the AL Senate race.

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    The Stray Goose

    "A lot of the extreme wings in our politics have grown very practiced and making life a living hell for people who disagree with them" - So true.

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    The Stray Goose

    31:15 "By that sliver of far-left progressive side" - A SLIVER??? Are you Joking???
    Go ahead and argue about how big that 'sliver' is, but that sliver is certainly running the Democratic Party. Sheesh.

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    Jason Gibson

    So we are scratching our heads about why people are not more optimistic and we bring on a bears fan to discuss this? Haven't they cornered the market in unreasonable optimism? ;)

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  6. Alan C

    On the subject of Liz Cheney -
    David lauded her courage to go against the Republican Party and speak the truth about what happened on January 6th — courage that he’d almost compare to that of Isaiah the Prophet.
    The biblical figure who came to mind for me is another one — a little-known hero named Nahshon. When the Pharoah’s army was in hot pursuit, and the Jews around him hesitated before the Red Sea, it was Nahshon who had the courage to jump in. Only after he jumped in did the waters part.
    It’s important to remember that brave acts are often taken without knowing the outcome or how long it will take to prevail.

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    PaulH

    A couple of thoughts on San Francisco politics.

    First, Lowell (which is actually a selective public high school not a charter school) has long been a place where children of Asian immigrants got on the ladder to success. The school board's decision to end selective admissions (which was correctly seen as a way of reducing the number of Asian students) energized that community. The anti-Asian rhetoric of one member only fueled the intensity. The long closing of the schools during COVID was important and goes to the competence issue. And there were various other issues where the Board seemed to be more focused on being woke then doing their job -- essentially falling into both buckets.

    Second, FWIW, London Breed is not considered a "progressive" in San Francisco. She was opposed by the progressive wing of the Board of Supervisors when she ran for mayor. She is obviously very liberal but has long had a pragmatic streak that makes her positions on police funding, schools and the DA less surprising.

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  8. Mark Eickhoff

    FWIW: Listening to Sarah's theory about why she believes Liz Cheney standing up to Trump somehow made Trump stronger and harder for other Republicans to resist brought to my mind the movie, 300. I envision Donald Trump as the Persian King Xerxes from the movie and demanding that the Greeks (Republicans in Congress) "but kneel and bow" to him and accept his "protection" from their voters. In my view, Liz Cheney is in the role of Leonidas. Yeah, Leonidas and his 300 Spartans were defeated by Xerxes at Thermopylae in the end, but they were sold out by a fellow Greek (Kevin McCarthy, anyone?). In the real historical aftermath of the Spartan's defeat, the other Greek city states didn't exactly fold and yield to Xerxes. Xerxes ultimately burned Athens, but he lost again and again and again to the Greeks afterward, but they still had to be willing to stand up and fight him.

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    Mudskipper

    There is an odd discrepancy between Gallup's charting of national satisfaction and the text description of the national satisfaction. According to the chart, national satisfaction was highest in the early 2000's. According to the text, national satisfaction was highest in 1999:

    "While personal satisfaction has ranged from 73% to 90% in Gallup's periodic measures since 1979, national satisfaction, which Gallup now tracks monthly, has fluctuated between the record-high 71% in 1999 and the low of 10% recorded during the Great Recession in 2008."

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    Ben Connelly

    Love how Declan tries to bridge the divide between Sarah and Steve.

    To the discussion at the beginning: I’d definitely fall into that category of person who says their own life is pretty good but the country is going to heck (I’m going to keep my comment clean, unlike this podcast!). David hit the nail on the head with the, “tired of the Revolution talk” line. And I think that poll reflects reality: 2000-2004 was a high water mark. I was 4-8 and life was good, people were proud to be Americans, we were the greatest country in the world and George W Bush was president. Greatest president in my lifetime!

    Anyway, the postmodernists are wrong the there is no reality and all is perception. However, misplaced perceptions can affect reality, particularly if they get people to take actions that change reality for the worse. A misplaced perception that we were one election away from the collapse of civilization led many people to vote for Donald Trump, who then actually made the country worse.

    I think you’re right to push back against what you see as misplaced perceptions about reality. However, I think there’s also some truth in it. David noted that we saw similar numbers in 09 and 79. Well, it’s pretty fair to say that there were real reasons for that. So this country may not be going to the dogs. But neither is it all dandelions and sunshine.

    To David’s point about the Trump boat parade: there is unhappiness in America despite the material prosperity. The challenge of our time is dealing with the problems of prosperity without getting rid of the prosperity.

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